SEGA Genesis Classics Pack 4

Streets of Rage has to be one of the all-time classic side-scrolling beat-em-ups, right? It had a sense of an atmosphere of menace that other games lacked. After a fan-made game was scuttled by Sega, the only activity on the old-school series has been mobile releases of the original games. So it's a real shame that the remake demonstrated above never made it out into the world.

A tweet from Ubisoft level designer Sean Noonan revealed the footage, which comes from a digital downloadable that was reportedly in development at Ruffian Games. Destructible environments, brutal takedowns, street gangs straight out of The Warriors… it's all there. Throw this one onto the pile of promising dreams that will never become reality

Sega has been keen on releasing its classic Master System and Genesis games lately. The Monster World Collection recently leaked out, and now it appears more games are coming to the Xbox 360. The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) board has rated another three titles.

Siliconera reports that Super Hang-On, Golden Axe 3, and Streets of Rage 3 have recently been rated, which is a pretty certain signal that they're coming. Sega hasn't formally announced the games for Europe or here in the States. But like the ESRB, PEGI has a long and proud history of spilling the beans on upcoming game announcements. We'll probably see some word of these titles soon.

Last week SEGA ordered that the Streets Of Rage remake – a faithful fan (reportedly eight years in development) recreation by Bomber Gamers that we previously reported on – be taken down by its creators. Subsequently, SEGA issued this statement:

“SEGA is committed to supporting any fans that take an interest in our games, and where possible we do so by involving them in Beta tests and other development, marketing or research opportunities. However we need to protect our intellectual property rights and this may result in us requesting that our fans remove online imagery, videos or games in some instances.”

Streets of Rage Remake, the exhaustive, fan-made homage to the classic Sega Genesis beat 'em up series, looks to have finally gotten the attention of Sega. The creators of that freely distributed Streets of Rage title have pulled the game after a request from Sega.

Released last week after some eight years in development, creators Bombergames pulled previously posted links to downloads for Streets of Rage Remake, asking forum members not to redistribute the game. Streets of Rage Remake is available for Windows PCs.

"SEGA have contacted regarding the download hosted on this site," writes a Bombergames forum moderator. "While this issue is being resolved, please do not upload the game for others to download. Any links posted on this site will be removed. Thank you."

Forum moderators have since locked a thread discussing the availability of Streets of Rage Remake.

The Streets of Rage Remake web site says its creators had informed Sega of the project during development via "a formal letter," but recent press of the 16-bit beat 'em up may have gotten Bombergames noticed.

Sega is still in the business of selling versions of Streets of Rage games through various means, including Steam, Wii Virtual Console and disc-based compilations for consoles.

Kotaku contacted Sega for details on its request to Bombergames, but the company has not yet officially responded.

I have only foggy memories of Sega’s 1991 side-scrolling man-thumper Streets of Rage (I was more of a Final Fight man, played on a chum’s Amiga) but I remember visiting the house of the only boy in the world to own a Mega-CD / Sega CD and playing it with him there. Though it might have been the second game, now I think of it. No matter – many buttons were bashed, many men were thumped, many naughty-swears were uttered. And yes, I do remember that thing where the police car turns up and bombs everything to death with as much fondness as the next man.

Now, a cartel of indie devs have painstakingly remade the bally thing as an elaborate, faithful but free PC game. After a remarkable eight years in development, you can play the ‘final’ version of this labour of violent love right now.(more…)

After more than eight years in development, the most complete, perhaps the most obsessive game in Sega's Streets of Rage series has been released in its final form. The fan-made Streets of Rage Remake is finally finished and—best of all—free to download.

Streets of Rage Remake is an homage to the 16-bit beat 'em ups of old, a series that graced the Sega Genesis, Game Gear and Master System. The remake boasts impressive raw numbers: 19 playable characters from multiple Streets of Rage games; 64 types of enemies; 83 remixes of classic techno tunes; 103 stages in which to bust skulls, one kick, elbow or flaming uppercut at a time.

The Streets of Rage Remake project started way back in March 2003, according to its creators, with more than a dozen musicians and artists contributing to the project that brings the best of Streets of Rage games from the Genesis and its 8-bit ports into one title.

Interested? You can grab the 218 MB install file from the Bombergames forums, perhaps making a donation while you're there.